


Because It's You

by makkachinn



Series: Special Days [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Birthday, Cute, Light-Hearted, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 20:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makkachinn/pseuds/makkachinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bertholdt knew his boyfriend had a terrible memory when it came to special dates, so he didn’t expect Reiner to remember it was his birthday. Boy was he in for a surprise. Birthday-fic. Modern!AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Because It's You

Bertholdt knew his boyfriend had a terrible memory when it came special dates and days, so he didn’t expect Reiner to remember it was his birthday. Nevertheless, the 20-year-old college student couldn’t help but felt a pang of hurt when he phoned the blond only to be met with a typical “Oh, hey Bertl! What’s up?”

“N-Nothing much,” the 6’3” raven replied, laughing nervously as he paced around his room. “Um, I was just wondering if you . . . uh . . . wanted to go somewhere today . . .”

 “Oh, sorry babe – no can do. I promised to meet up with Christa today,” came the reply that made Bertholdt feel as if he had just fell off a cliff and onto a mountain of mouse traps, but it didn’t stop there. “It might take the whole day, so I’m not sure if I have any free time. Why? Is it something important?”

Bertholdt felt his shoulders slump as he froze mid-step. “No,” he responded, a little too quickly. “N-No, it’s . . . it’s nothing. Just, um, enjoy your day with Christa.”

“Alright, thanks. Sorry, Bertl.”

“No, it’s okay. B-Bye.”

“Bye.”

And with that, the raven hung up, falling back onto his as he sighed. _I should have known he’d forget,_ he thought, rolling over to his side. _Oh well . . . I guess I’ll just ask someone else if they want to hang out today._

**X X X**

Strangely, everybody seemed busy.

“Sorry, but I have to go to math tutorials,” had been Connie’s reply when the raven had called. “My grades are dropping and if I don’t maintain a passing grade, I have to give up my car for the rest of the semester.”

“No, it’s fine,” reassured Bertholdt. “Good luck then.”

“Thanks.”

Eren’s response wasn’t much different. “I have to attend some kind of party with my dad. I’d rather hang out with you but I don’t think I can get out of this one.”

Neither was Armin’s: “I’m volunteering at the library until five.”

Nor Sasha’s: “There’s an international food festival at the Shiganshina Hotel and I already planned to go with my cousin!”

Nor Jean’s: “My mom wants me to clean the attic. Ugh.”

Ymir’s was quite different though. “Depends,” answered the freckled female.

“On what?”

“Is Christa going?”

“No, I don’t think so. She’s out with R—hello? Ymir?”

The 20 year old sighed and hung up. After nearly half an hour of disappointment and half-rejections, he finally decided to give up. _I guess I’ll just have to spend this birthday alone,_ he thought sadly, closing his eyes.

As soon as the notion came to mind, his phone immediately rang. A quick glance at his screen established that the call was coming from Marco, a fellow classmate and friend of his at school, and he answered it.

“Hey Bertholdt, it’s Marco. Do you mind if we hang out today? I feel like going out of the house but everyone seems to be occupied with something,” explained the other party.

Hearing this, Bertholdt immediately sat up. “No, I don’t mind! I kind of felt like leaving the house as well. Um . . . where do you want to meet?”

After a bit of chit chat, the two eventually decided to meet at a popular café called “Hanji’s” at 1 PM, and after two hours of complete boredom, Bertholdt departed his home. It didn’t take long before he reached the European-styled restaurant, and his face lit up when he entered and saw that his friend had already managed to reserve a window booth for them.

After the waitress came to record their order, Marco leaned back in his chair and smiled. “So how has your day been?” asked the younger.

Bertholdt sighed. “To be honest, not so good.”

“Really? Why?”

“Well . . . um . . . you see, today’s my birthday.”

At this, Marco’s eyes widened. “It is?” he half-exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I-I didn’t really want to bother anyone.”

“Of course you wouldn’t be bothering anyone, especially me! If you had told me earlier, I would’ve planned something special for you. After all, my dad owns a hotel here in New York.”

This brought a slight smile to Bertholdt’s features. “Thanks, Marco, I appreciate it. It’s okay, really. Spending the day with me is already good enough.”

Marco didn’t seem convinced, and his expression showed it as their food arrived. “What about Reiner?” he questioned. “You two are dating, right?”

Bertholdt sighed once more as he began eating his cake. “Yeah, but he doesn’t remember things like this very well. I called him earlier today but he told me he promised Christa that they would hang out.”

Unknown to Bertholdt, Marco tensed. “Don’t worry, they’re just friends,” he assured. “And I’m certain he remembers – he’s probably just, you know, planning a surprise party . . . or some . . . thing . . . haha . . .”

Bertholdt waved the idea aside. “No, I doubt it, but it’s okay. Thanks for trying to cheer me up though. For now, let’s j—“

Marco glanced up from his food to see what had caused Bertholdt to stop midsentence. He noticed that the other was staring through the window at something outside and when he followed his friend’s gaze, he almost choked on his food. Across the street were, without a doubt, Connie and Sasha, lugging around two huge boxes.

“Hey, Marco,” spoke Bertholdt,” I’m not sure if it’s just me, but is that Connie and Sasha over th—“

“It’s just you,” Marco quickly replied.

“Is it? But they really do look like—“

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about; I don’t see anything. Um, anyway, nice weather today right? Haha.”

Bertholdt blinked and stared at his friend, the latter strangely sweating nervously. “It’s alright I guess,” he answered. “Though I wish I wish it wasn’t so cold. Then again, it is New York.”

Marco laughed nervously. “Haha, yeah. Oh, well, the food is quite good. How about later, I take you to my dad’s hotel? It has some really nice restaurants.”

“Would it be too much of a hassle?”

“No, no, don’t worry about it. It is your birthday after all.”

Hearing this, Bertholdt smiled. “Thanks Marco,” he said. “You’re a good friend.”

“It’s nothing really. So what do you want to do after this?”

“Well I was thinking . . .”

**X X X**

As promised, after six hours of fun and quality bonding time, Marco brought the birthday boy to his father’s hotel.

“No way!” Bertholdt gasped as he stepped foot into the extravagant lobby. “Does your dad really own this place?”

“Every inch of it,” confirmed Marco. “There are five restaurants here but I really want to show you one in particular. Follow me.”

As the other led him through the first floor and up the elevator, Bertholdt couldn’t help but contemplate how elaborate and impressive the architecture was in the lavish building. It was so amazing that he almost felt as if he was in the Coliseum, or St. Basil, or even the Notre Dame. Even the elevators were polished and shiny.

Once they arrived at their designated floor, the doors opened and Bertholdt trailed behind his friend. However, before they could turn the corner and reach the restaurant, Marco turned around, beaming.

“I want to surprise you,” stated the younger as he pulled out a blindfold. “Here, wear this; don’t worry, I’ll guide you. I just want to see your reaction when you see the restaurant.”

“O-Okay,” agreed Bertholdt as he accepted the blindfold and tied it around his head and over his eyes.

As Marco had said, Bertholdt felt two hands take hold of his shoulders and slowly directed him around the corner and down the hall, and though it only lasted for two minutes, Bertholdt felt as if it had been an hour. At last, he felt Marco stop.

“You can take it off now,” was all he needed to hear before he pulled off the blindfold.

Immediately, his eyes widened and his heart leaped.

The whole room was decorated with streamers, signs, and balloons. Hanging above the entrance was a large sign that read “Happy Birthday Bertholdt” in bold, colorful letters, and the buffet was filled with all kinds of international food: lobster, sushi, escargot, shish kabob, dim sum, you name it. But most importantly, surrounding him in the elegant room were dozens of his friends: Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Christa, Ymir, Mina, Thomas. To his surprise, even Annie and Mikasa were there.

“Happy birthday, Bertholdt!” the whole crowd cheered so loud that the room even vibrated.

Bertholdt lifted his hand over his mouth in shock, and slight tears of happiness threatened to fall as he was struck by the overwhelming warmth of his friends.

“B-But I thought . . . I thought you were all busy,” he stammered.

Sasha grinned. “Funny story actually!” she chimed. “We were all set on preparing for the party that we forgot to assign someone to keep you company and bring you here when we were all done!”

“It was all Eren’s fault,” Jean added.

Said brunette glowered. “What?” he exclaimed. “How was it _my_ fault?”

“Everything is your fault!”

“No it isn’t!”

“Yes it is!”

“Are you tryna’ pick a f—“

Everyone laughed as Mikasa separated the two belligerent friends.

Marco smiled as he continued where Sasha left off. “Since it was my dad’s hotel, I decided it would be less suspicious if I brought you here, so I called you to ask if we could hang out together while the others set up everything here,” he revealed.

“Sorry that we all had to decline you,” spoke Armin. “Given the size of the room, it would have taken three days if everyone hadn’t pitched in to help.”

Bertholdt shook his head. “After seeing this, I can’t be upset about that.” He then turned to Marco. “And does that mean that we really saw Connie and Sasha while we were in the café?”

Marco gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, that was them. I’m really bad at lying, haha.”

Jean shot Connie and Sasha an exasperated look. “I _told_ you guys to be careful,” he nagged.

Christa giggled. “It’s not their fault,” she said.

Bertholdt then averted his attention to the 4’9” tall blond. “W-Wait . . . so does that mean you weren’t with Reiner today? He told me you guys were spending the day together.”

“Oh, no, that part is true! You’ll see soon!”

“Speaking of Reiner,” piped up Eren,” he should be coming out the kitchen about now . . .”

A loud ‘ _bang’_ echoed throughout the room as a tall, built, blond male kicked the kitchen doors open, entering the room with a large chocolate cake in hand. “Hey guys, sorry about the door, but I finished the cake! And it’s not burnt this time! It  took forev—“ Upon setting sight on Bertholdt, he immediately froze. “B-Bertholdt! You’re here! Why are you here?”

Annie stared at Reiner. “It’s his own party. Of course he’d be here,” she stated.

“O-Oh . . . right. Um . . .”

The whole room inwardly groaned at the sight of Reiner acting like a deer in headlights. Ymir rolled her eyes. “Oh for the love of—“She shoved the blond towards his boyfriend, causing him to nearly drop the cake. Reiner stumbled but he quickly recomposed himself, reaching the birthday boy shortly. He then hesitantly offered the cake toward the raven.

“U-Um, sorry I had to reject your invitation this morning. It was just that I really wanted to do something special for you and Christa was going to teach me to bake and I suck at baking and I just wanted to give you something you really like because you deserve it but I wasn’t sure if this would be good enough so I hope that you like it and Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas and Happy New Years and —“

Ymir waved her hand above the crowd. “Hey Reiner, we don’t have all day!” she yelled.

Reiner made a face before exhaling sharply. “Okay, what I just want to say is—“ he thrusted the cake forward— “You’re the greatest friend a person can have, and I’m glad that we’re together. Happy birthday, Bertholdt.”

Bertholdt felt his heart skip ten beats, and he reached out to accept the cake. “Thank you, Reiner. It means a lot to me,” he said.

 “That’s sweet, but can we eat now?”

“Ymir!”

Bertholdt laughed regardless and he set down the dessert onto a table. “Of course, of course,” he said. “Dig in everyone.”

**X X X**

The party continued until early morning but somehow between the chaos, Bertholdt managed to find some alone time with Reiner in a calm, quiet corner of the restaurant. Spotting his boyfriend, Reiner pulled out a chair for him, smiling when the latter sat down. “How do you like it so far?” he asked.

“It’s . . . it’s the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

The older let out a chuckle. “Well that’s good to hear.”

A comfortable silence settled as they both sat in silence, but it was broken by Bertholdt a few minutes later. “Reiner,” he suddenly spoke up.

“Hm?”

“Did you really remember today was my birthday?”

Reiner raised an eyebrow. “What kind of question was that?”

“Well . . . you’re not the type of person to remember special dates like anniversaries and birthdays. I was just wondering if, you know, you actually remembered. It’s okay if you didn’t – I just wanted to know.”

There was another silence as Bertholdt waited for his boyfriend’s response. Finally, the blond spoke up.

“You’re right, I don’t remember special dates,” admitted Reiner. “But you’re special. If it was anyone else I wouldn’t even bother, but the reason why I keep yours in mind – and to be honest, why I even count down to the day – is because it’s you. I care about you a lot.”

Bertholdt was rendered speechless. Never had he heard Reiner – big, strong, masculine Reiner – be so sincere and heartfelt in his words.

Reiner must have noticed because he let out a chuckle and stood up. “I know, I know, it must be weird for you to see me be such a softy. We can talk about the effect you have on me later, but for now, let’s get back to the party now. I think Sasha is going to explode, seeing she ate nearly the whole tray of potato skins.”

The blond then extended a hand, and Bertholdt took it, smiling happily.

“Yeah, let’s get back,” he agreed, and together, hand-in-hand, they continued the night of celebration.

**X X X**

 Meanwhile, in another part of the room . . .

“Wow, these eavesdropping chips are useful. I never knew Reiner was so tacky.”

“ _Ymir_!”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday to our favorite sweaty prince ♥ Merry Belated Christmas and Happy Early New Years everyone!


End file.
